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SAVE Pakistan Meeting

Islamabad, 9 April 2010

On April 9, the members of SAVE Pakistan met together to create an implementation plan for the SAVE Mothers for Change! global campaign and to make a statement against violent extremism. Their hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication to SAVE continue to inspire us, and we cannot wait to work with three of their members in May at our "Train the Trainers" week of workshops in the countryside of Austria.

SAVE Pakistan Meeting Report

The meeting discussed the parameters of the “Mothers for Change” campaign to be launched by the SAVE-Pakistan chapter in the near future. The discussion focused on shaping the project along the following parameters:

Phase One:
--- Enlist 20 potential women who will be trained by the Trainers on how to formulate and implement the Mothers for Change! global campaign within Pakistan. (Trainers are women who have attended the SAVE Anti-Terrorism Training Camp in May 2010 in Austria.)
--- This training workshop will be the official launch of the SAVE-Pakistan’s Mothers for Change! campaign in Pakistan.
--- The launch will be held in Islamabad, and the PAIMAN Alumni Trust will be the host of this campaign. Video conferencing with the SAVE mentors from Vienna will also be a part of this workshop.

Phase Two:
--- Eight training workshops composed of 20-25 women participants will be conducted across Pakistan by the women originally trained at the workshops during the SAVE Pakistan launch in Islamabad. The workshops will be held in: Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, Swat, and Azad Kashmir.
--- Following this training, each trainer will be assigned to further sensitize 10 women (that is, mothers) regarding the Mothers for Change! initiative.
--- Our aim is to link this pool of trained women with the PAIMAN’s already trained Peace Networks and carry out future activities such as: publishing and holding talk shows (TV and radio) focusing on the need to act against extremism, Take out Peace Vigils, holding meetings, and so on.

Phase Three:--- Annual Convention of all the activists of the Mothers for Change! campaign to be held in Islamabad. The aim is to share the best practices and chalk out the future course of campaign.
--- Publish report and documentation of the entire one year activity of the SAVE-Pakistan Mothers for Change! campaign to be shared with all the international participants of this initiative.

The meeting also adopted the following resolution to work against extremism in Pakistan in the aftermath of recent suicide attacks in Peshawar and Dir: --- Terrorism and extremism in Pakistan is extremely complex in nature and calls for sustained civil society initiatives, specifically by women, to rise against this menace.
--- There is an urgent need to understand the human costs of the acts of terrorism that have resulted in the killing of thousands and thousands of innocent civilians across the country.
--- SAVE Pakistan will strive to work proactively to raise awareness against extremism in society at large.
--- SAVE Pakistan will continue to partner and participate in a number of international and national initiatives focusing on mobilizing women against extremism, radicalization and violence.

Terror struck Pakistan in NWFP province of Pakistan when bomb blasts at two different places killed many innocent people once again. Whenever there is a terrorist attack resulting in the death of innocent, non-combatant civilians as well as security personnel, the primary and principal victims of terrorism are none other than its women. Either way, they happen to be at the receiving end of this terror trail. They get bombed and their husbands get killed, leaving them more susceptible to extremist threats.

We at SAVE Pakistan believe that more than anything, the bigger threat is the challenge to the authority of a government of a sovereign country because the people’s security and independence directly connect to the state of law and order, which is one of the basic institutions of an independent terrain.

The ray of hope for Pakistan, however, is the determination that keeps us all going and keep moving despite all odds. It is also shown by Pakistani women that we are undeterred by threats—they are in the forefront striving for the cause of fellow women, taking part in political processions, demonstrating in front of the judiciary, speaking their minds on television as news anchors, reporters, experts, social workers, teachers and above all as mothers. We firmly believe that the resolve that women are showing will not go unnoticed.